Andrew Cuomo Kevin Wallin and the Reality of Christ

Andrew Cuomo Kevin Wallin and the Reality of Christ

Jabez Stone: What does it mean here, about my soul?

Mr. Scratch:Why should that worry you? A soul? A soul is noth­ing. Can you see it, smell it, touch it? No. This soul, *your* soul, are noth­ing against seven years of good luck. You’ll have money and all that money can buy.

The Devil and Daniel Web­ster 1941

10thDOC­TOR: Come with me. You’ve seen the ware­house, you can’t agree with all this. You know this place bet­ter than me, you could help.

SOLANA:They’re over here! Guards! They’re over here!

Doc­tor Who Planet of the Ood2008

“You see Mr. Simp­son, a man, well, he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open.…”

Not for the con­cept of the new abor­tion reg­u­la­tions, I’m resigned to democ­rats push­ing for such things.

Not for the poten­tial slaugh­ter, The cur­rent slaugh­ter is already depress­ing and frankly the world is full of slaugh­ter from Africa to China to Mex­ico to Chicago, there is never a short­age of inno­cents mur­dered to be upset about.

Not even for the cheers as he made the propo­si­tion. I’m into his­tory, the idea of a mob cheer­ing evil as if it’s good has a long and dis­tin­guished pedigree.

It’s not like they have the youth of a Lind­say Lohan or a Amanda Bynes to explain their behav­ior, or the igno­rance of many of those born in the last few decades who have never been taught dif­fer­ently or exposed to the word and came of age in a cul­ture that mocks it at every turn.

Andrew Cuomo was born in 1955 eight years before me, His father Mario was born in 193211 years after my own. Both were raised Catholic, Andrew being sent to a Catholic High School. Both have been clearly taught the pre­cepts of the Church and of Christ. Being Ital­ian Catholics it is impos­si­ble they did not have one or move strongly devout rel­a­tives or in Mario’s case devout par­ents who set an exam­ple of faith and what it means.

Like­wise Wallin at 61 not only came to age in a dif­fer­ent era but as a Catholic priest would have had for­mal train­ing and teach­ing in the Gospels, in the faith. These are not things that would be abstract to him, these would be things that would be understood.

Addi­tion­ally both Cuomo’s and the for­mer Mon­signor (he left the church in 2011) by virtue of their place in soci­ety would have direct access to supe­ri­ors in the faith, peo­ple of vast knowl­edge and under­stand­ing able to give them advice and guid­ance, access that an aver­age Catholic sim­ply doesn’t.

Yet they have dis­carded it like the wrap­ping of a gift at Christ­mas. Tossed it for pride in the case of Cuomo, lust in the case of Wallin and greed in the case of both.

The ques­tion is why?

Well the easy answer, the one that is most com­fort­able and least chal­leng­ing is sim­ple human weak­ness. These are sins, all peo­ple are vul­ner­a­ble to sin. It is tempt­ing to look at Mr. Cuomo and Msgr Wallin and say to our­selves: “They have given into sin, we are all sin­ners so rather than cri­tique we should sim­ply pray for them”, Indeed we should pray for them, but that answer while com­fort­ing to us per­mits us to ignore a most uncom­fort­able reality.

Both Mr. Cuomo and Msgr Wallin are intel­li­gent and edu­cated men. At ages 55&61 they both under­stand they at the very least a decade closer to death than to birth and like all of us are march­ing relent­lessly toward it. This being the case, what do their choices tell us?

They tell us when it comes to Christ, they sim­ply don’t buy it.

They don’t buy God, they don’t buy Christ, they don’t buy the idea of heaven and hell and they cer­tainly don’t buy these words from the Gospel:

“Enter through the nar­row gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruc­tion, and those who enter through it are many. How nar­row the gate and con­stricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few. ” Matt 7:13 – 14

They sim­ply see the world in front of them as the only end and a sup­posed faith as a means to those ends. As Eliz­a­beth Scalia bluntly put it con­cern­ing NY’s Governor:

Of course he’s not seek­ing heaven Eliz­a­beth, he doesn’t believe it’s there! For such a per­son Mass is a for­mal­ity for elec­toral pur­poses or more likely a com­fort­able habit akin to Shel­don Cooper knock­ing on a door three times.

As I said on the air on the Money Mat­ters Radio Net­work in my first broad­cast as a guest host yes­ter­day. The only rea­son to be Chris­t­ian in gen­eral and Catholic in par­tic­u­lar is because it’s true. If it’s not true the we are an Elk’s club that meets on Sun­days and the rules of moral­ity that take away from your wealth or com­fort are the rules of fools and no amount of belief will make it oth­er­wise. If it’s not true I’m a sucker for not walk­ing across the bridge to Water street and buy­ing every EBT card I can for .50 on the dol­lar and dou­bling my avail­able gro­cery money in seconds.

But the con­verse is also true. If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if the Gospel is the word of God, if the bread and wine are trans­formed at the altar into the body and blood of Christ and if heaven and hell exist, then no amount of dis­be­lief, doubt or laugh­ter will change it.

The tragedy of Andrew Cuomo and of Kevin Wallin is not solely in what they have done and choose to do dri­ven by either the lust for power, sex, money or even drug addic­tion in Wallin’s case.

The tragedy of their actions is they knew bet­ter and were taught bet­ter and are intel­li­gent enough to under­stand bet­ter, yet are still walk­ing toward the open-​pit. Watch­ing them walk toward it is like watch­ing a Lind­say Lohan or a Amanda Bynes self destruct. It’s a waste, it both­ers me, it doesn’t have to happen.

But Andrew Cuomo and Kevin Wallin have one thing going for them, one card still in play:

And he told them this para­ble: “There once was a per­son who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gar­dener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’

He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cul­ti­vate the ground around it and fer­til­ize it;it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:6 – 9

Cuomo, Wallin, myself and any­one who is read­ing this still has that one vital ingre­di­ent to avoid the pit in front of us. We are still alive. I’ll do my best to steer clear of it, you do the same and I hope and pray that Mr. Cuomo and Wallin do too. They have the rest of their lives to do so.…

…after that, they’re on their own.

Jabez Stone: What does it mean here, about my soul?

Mr. Scratch:Why should that worry you? A soul? A soul is nothing. Can you see it, smell it, touch it? No. This soul, *your* soul, are nothing against seven years of good luck. You’ll have money and all that money can buy.

The Devil and Daniel Webster 1941

10th DOCTOR: Come with me. You’ve seen the warehouse, you can’t agree with all this. You know this place better than me, you could help.

SOLANA:They’re over here! Guards! They’re over here!

Doctor Who Planet of the Ood 2008

“You see Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open….”

Not for the concept of the new abortion regulations, I’m resigned to democrats pushing for such things.

Not for the potential slaughter, The current slaughter is already depressing and frankly the world is full of slaughter from Africa to China to Mexico to Chicago, there is never a shortage of innocents murdered to be upset about.

Not even for the cheers as he made the proposition. I’m into history, the idea of a mob cheering evil as if it’s good has a long and distinguished pedigree.

It’s not like they have the youth of a Lindsay Lohan or a Amanda Bynes to explain their behavior, or the ignorance of many of those born in the last few decades who have never been taught differently or exposed to the word and came of age in a culture that mocks it at every turn.

Andrew Cuomo was born in 1955 eight years before me, His father Mario was born in 1932 11 years after my own. Both were raised Catholic, Andrew being sent to a Catholic High School. Both have been clearly taught the precepts of the Church and of Christ. Being Italian Catholics it is impossible they did not have one or move strongly devout relatives or in Mario’s case devout parents who set an example of faith and what it means.

Likewise Wallin at 61 not only came to age in a different era but as a Catholic priest would have had formal training and teaching in the Gospels, in the faith. These are not things that would be abstract to him, these would be things that would be understood.

Additionally both Cuomo’s and the former Monsignor (he left the church in 2011) by virtue of their place in society would have direct access to superiors in the faith, people of vast knowledge and understanding able to give them advice and guidance, access that an average Catholic simply doesn’t.

Yet they have discarded it like the wrapping of a gift at Christmas. Tossed it for pride in the case of Cuomo, lust in the case of Wallin and greed in the case of both.

The question is why?

Well the easy answer, the one that is most comfortable and least challenging is simple human weakness. These are sins, all people are vulnerable to sin. It is tempting to look at Mr. Cuomo and Msgr Wallin and say to ourselves: “They have given into sin, we are all sinners so rather than critique we should simply pray for them”, Indeed we should pray for them, but that answer while comforting to us permits us to ignore a most uncomfortable reality.

Both Mr. Cuomo and Msgr Wallin are intelligent and educated men. At ages 55 & 61 they both understand they at the very least a decade closer to death than to birth and like all of us are marching relentlessly toward it. This being the case, what do their choices tell us?

They tell us when it comes to Christ, they simply don’t buy it.

They don’t buy God, they don’t buy Christ, they don’t buy the idea of heaven and hell and they certainly don’t buy these words from the Gospel:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few. “ Matt 7:13-14

They simply see the world in front of them as the only end and a supposed faith as a means to those ends. As Elizabeth Scalia bluntly put it concerning NY’s Governor:

Of course he’s not seeking heaven Elizabeth, he doesn’t believe it’s there! For such a person Mass is a formality for electoral purposes or more likely a comfortable habit akin to Sheldon Cooper knocking on a door three times.

As I said on the air on the Money Matters Radio Network in my first broadcast as a guest host yesterday. The only reason to be Christian in general and Catholic in particular is because it’s true. If it’s not true the we are an Elk’s club that meets on Sundays and the rules of morality that take away from your wealth or comfort are the rules of fools and no amount of belief will make it otherwise. If it’s not true I’m a sucker for not walking across the bridge to Water street and buying every EBT card I can for .50 on the dollar and doubling my available grocery money in seconds.

But the converse is also true. If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if the Gospel is the word of God, if the bread and wine are transformed at the altar into the body and blood of Christ and if heaven and hell exist, then no amount of disbelief, doubt or laughter will change it.

The tragedy of Andrew Cuomo and of Kevin Wallin is not solely in what they have done and choose to do driven by either the lust for power, sex, money or even drug addiction in Wallin’s case.

The tragedy of their actions is they knew better and were taught better and are intelligent enough to understand better, yet are still walking toward the open-pit. Watching them walk toward it is like watching a Lindsay Lohan or a Amanda Bynes self destruct. It’s a waste, it bothers me, it doesn’t have to happen.

But Andrew Cuomo and Kevin Wallin have one thing going for them, one card still in play:

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’

He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'” Luke 13:6-9

Cuomo, Wallin, myself and anyone who is reading this still has that one vital ingredient to avoid the pit in front of us. We are still alive. I’ll do my best to steer clear of it, you do the same and I hope and pray that Mr. Cuomo and Wallin do too. They have the rest of their lives to do so….

Listen to your Granny

Food Glorious Food

Find Discounts at the Stores you Love

Bloggers Prayer

Oh God, you who gave free will to your creation, bless those who use that precious gift to blog.

May we though this gift of freedom of expression enlighten, entertain and inform our readers, and we ask particular blessing for those who bring your word across the net, that they may faithfully execute your command to make disciples of all nations.